Thursday, June 6, 2013

As his remarks on "comfort women" provoked the UN's strong word (here and here) to the Abe administration to refute such remarks, Boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City, with his party's favorable rating plunging far below that of unpopular Democratic Party of Japan, moves on, looking for a bigger shit he can inflict on people in Japan so that everyone forgets about his "comfort women" and "adult industry" remarks.

He's found one: the US military's Osprey training.

He has formally proposed to the Abe administration that he offers Yao Airport in Yao City, Osaka as a training ground for this controversial transport aircraft of the US military.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto proposed Thursday to the government conducting some training exercises of the U.S. military's MV-22 Osprey aircraft near Osaka in a bid to reduce the burden on Okinawa Prefecture, home to the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.

"It's important to study whether it is feasible" for some training to be conducted in Osaka Prefecture, Hashimoto told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at the premier's office.

"We don't know whether it is really possible...but the important thing is to get started on a feasibility study," Hashimoto said, adding a final judgment should be made by the Japanese government and the U.S. military.

Hashimoto, who co-heads the Japan Restoration Party, suggested at the meeting that training exercises for the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft deployed at a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa should be conducted outside of the prefecture for 120 days, and that Yao Airport, located southwest of Osaka city, could host some of them.

Ichiro Matsui, the party's secretary general who doubles as Osaka governor, said Abe told those at the meeting that sharing Okinawa's burden with people on the mainland of Japan would be "natural."

Other proposals include making revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement by enabling Japan to exert jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel when they commit a crime off duty, and to have the authority to keep them in custody together with the United States.

The proposals were made at a time when the party has been trying to contain the political repercussions of Hashimoto's recent remarks that Japan's wartime system of military brothels was necessary to maintain discipline, raising ire from South Korea and elsewhere.

The outlook for implementing the proposals remains uncertain as Yao Mayor Seita Tanaka has expressed his objection. In Okinawa, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine criticized the move as "irresponsible," because local consent had yet to be obtained in Osaka Prefecture.

Japan's top spokesman Suga told a press conference after the meeting that Tokyo would "examine" the party's proposals and that it had a responsibility to the people in Okinawa.

"We genuinely welcome the proposals as both Japanese and U.S. authorities are now considering whether it is possible for Ospreys to conduct flight training outside of Okinawa, and Japan as a whole needs to think about reducing the burden on Okinawa of hosting the bases," Suga said.

Twelve Ospreys have been deployed at the U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma Air Station in Okinawa since last year despite strong local opposition and safety concerns after a series of accidents overseas. The U.S. military has already started low-altitude training on the mainland.

Asahi Shinbun (Japanese) has another piece of Boy-wonder's utterance on this bigger-shit exercise. According to Asahi, Hashimoto said:

「この構想が実現可能性があるかどうかわからない。これをきっかけに本州の至る所の空港を検討対象にあげてもらって進めていけばいいのでは」

"I don't know this proposal is feasible or not, but from now on all airports on mainland Japan should be considered for hosting the training."

Boy-wonder will no doubt use the same template as he and his boss Shintaro Ishihara used successfully to stifle opposition to bringing in and burning disaster debris contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals, and radioactive materials. It must go like this:

People in [disaster-affected areas / Okinawa] are suffering. It is our duty to support them by taking in [the disaster debris / Osprey] so that they can feel better that everyone is sharing the burden not just them. If you are against [bringing in and burning the disaster debris / bringing in Osprey to the airport near you], that means you are against the recovery of [disaster-affected areas / Okinawa] and you are racist!

I'm almost 100% certain that this will be the narrative.

Yao Airport is, by the way, is a small local airport in the middle of crowded residential area. Osprey is to practice flying as low as 150 meters from the ground, day and night.

Boy-wonder's sidekick, Governor of Osaka Ichiro Matsui, has said he is counting on the US military to come to the rescue when a huge earthquake hits Kansai, so he will gladly offer a training location for the US military in Osaka.

The US military tried to remove the program from its budget several times, however powerful lobbying on the behalf of the companies that manufacture it have left it in the budget every time, and now they have to fly the stupid things.

Reading between the lines - which seems silly to have to do, but is necessary these days. - my take is that Hashimoto's comments were embarrassing to the US military and for some reason he needs their cooperation, which they refuse to give.

However, the military is willing to negotiate I can imagine the conversation: "Mr. Hashimoto, you have severely embarrassed the US military, therefore we will not cooperate or support your projects. However, we need a base to operate our V22's so if you will publicly support our plan, then we will forgive you and support yours."

The Bell Helicopter whistleblower knew how the Osprey (and other Bell helicopters) are built. He said he would think twice before flying on any Bell aircraft; said they were using scrap parts and damaged tooling and deviating from blueprints, violating protocol, and regularly engaged in false labor charging. Bell managers would say: Just get it out the door and we'll deal with it when it comes back". They finally fired him while he had cancer. BH has no conscience. I heard his widow is trying to get the story out to the public. Somebody needs to find her and get the truth about this corrupt government contractor.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

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